Pitchfactor glitching/audio problem (possibly solved?)

[eruption77]

Question for Eventide support:

My Pitchfactor, after being turned on for a while, would ‘glitch’ very badly.  The display would very badly jump around, and the audio would get very high and ‘echo-ey.’ For example, any given preset, the display would start to randomly jump across all control knob settings (Mix-Pitch-Speed-Delay-Feedback).  It would jump though these settings VERY fast, and at that time the sound would go nuts too.  Bypassing the preset would correct the audio, but the display would still jump all around as though the knobs were being turned.

This was not resident to the latest firmware or anything either.

I tried a full factory reset, wiping out all of my settings and presets.  Reinstalling the firmware.  The problem still remained afterwards, and before resending all of my presets back down to it.

Again, it would only behave like this once it was powered on for a while.  However, once the problem started, power-cycling the pedal would not correct it.

Now what ‘fixed’ it:  I have my Timefactor, Pitchfactor, and two Dunlop DC Bricks all plugged into the same surge protector.  Just for the hell of it, I plugged the Pitchfactor into a different outlet on the same surge protector.  I now cannot recreate the problem.  I’ve had everything powered on for hours at a time, multiple times, and the Pitchfactor has worked fine ever since.  I only have the above 4 things plugged into this power strip, and I’m using the Eventide power supplies for my Factor pedals.

Does this make ANY sense to you guys?  IS there something wrong with my PF, or could it have been some weird powering issue that caused that behavior?  I’ve never had an issue with my Timefactor, DC Bricks, or the pedals plugged into the DC Bricks.  It makes no sense whatsoever to me that just moving the PF to a different outlet ‘fixed’ this.  I’m hoping you guys may have seen something like this before, or be able to somehow make sense of this.

Thanks much in advance!

[eruption77]

I may have spoken too soon.  The above problem remains but doesn’t happen nearly as frequent as it did prior to changing power outlets.  I have my camera at the ready to try and record a video once it happens again.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what would cause the Pitchfactor to behave erratically like this?

[spaceJam]

Sounds like the typical loose cable problem from the *Factor series.

 

There is a ribbon cable inside your pedal that may need some readjustment.

[eruption77]

Thanks very much for your reply!

Would this by chance be that same main ribbon cable that was mentioned a few months back in a Timefactor thread?  I had glitching problems with it after changing bypass modes and sort of re-seating that ribbon cable fixed the TF.  Someone posted some good detailed pics in that thread and it was pretty easy to do.  This issue with my PF is slightly different, so I didn’t think to try that but I will now.

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